Dark Satellites ‘Be Still’ Vinyl Pre-Order

Dark Satellites’ Be Still vinyl is available for pre-order on Bandcamp (click “Buy” below) (you can stream the whole thing, too).

Drew has made an incredibly good record. It’s catchier, it’s heavier, and it’s synth-ier than 2012 Are Here.

If it matters to you, I played drums on “Strange Song,” bass on “Just Dropped Out,” and mastered the album. This is the first thing I’ve ever contributed to that’s been pressed to wax!

The vinyl is a cool gray and taupe splatter to match the cover art, and we should receive it in June. $25 shipped to the lower 48. Drew will break even when every record is sold, basically; we will not profit on this. It is the definition of a labor of love.

Falcon Drive Design Complete

This morning I finished the design for a new pedal, the Falcon Drive.  I’ll be taking reservations for a small run of them soon.

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There it is on the breadboard. Doesn’t look like much, maybe, but it’ll do a nice JFET mostly-clean boost (slight compression, fatness, & edge on the pick attack; nice!), an asymmetric MOSFET/LED overdrive, and a scuzzy Schottky diode drive.

The finished enclosures will be laid out like this, with Kingman-style stamping and finishing. The second footswitch, LED, and colored knob are for a second gain/saturation preset.

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True bypass, quiet switching, extremely high (10M) input impedance and low (3.3K) output impedance are featured to preserve treble and drive long cables. The Falcon has a huge range of useable gain; I love it for everything from always-on unity gain buffer to dimed out.

Video coming soon-ish. Before the reservations are closed, for sure, so you can decide if you (or the guitarist in your life) need one!

Upcoming Dark Satellites & Mars Lights Shows

2016 April 9, Saturday – Dark Satellites at Minibar, Kansas City MO, with Fullbloods and Noah Davis.  9 PM, 21+, $5

2016 April 30, Saturday – Mars Lights at The All Star Rock Bar, Kansas City MO, with Small Waves and The Oldfield Victory.  9 PM show.

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2016 May 9, Monday – Mars Lights at The Riot Room, Kansas City MO, with MUST BE THE HOLY GHOST, Redder Moon, and Via Luna. We play at 8:30 sharp! 7 PM doors, 21+, $8

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2016 July 16, Saturday – Mars Lights at Records With Merritt, Kansas City MO, with Red Cities and Bogusman